Leading analysts estimate that AI could contribute almost $16 trillion to the global economy by the end of 2030. The gains are expected to come from massive productivity increases, new product and service innovations, and enhanced consumer experiences. They also see that the AI market will remain dominated by the United States and China. The economic opportunities are just too huge for the Philippines not to do something to at least capture a bit of it.

The US, of course, is the home of the big AI brands that command the vast majority of the world's AI computing power. It also leads private AI investment by a massive margin — more than the rest of the world combined — and continues to attract top talent from around the globe.

China, on the other hand, has clear national goals for global AI dominance, aiming to overtake the US as an AI leader by 2030, driven by significant state support. Today, China leads the world in the volume of AI-related patents and has the world’s largest number of AI data centers. Just like the US, its economic future is anchored in AI-led innovations.

Beyond the top two, a second wave of countries has significantly improved their AI competitiveness. The United Kingdom is seen today as the leading country in AI policy work, with revered institutions such as the Alan Turing Institute. Canada has positioned itself as a long-standing leader in AI research, particularly in deep learning. It maintains a strong position thanks to its robust academic ecosystem and steady government support. India is now a rising AI powerhouse with its vast pool of skilled engineers and a rapidly growing startup ecosystem.

South Korea is a global leader in AI adoption, with a high percentage of its workforce already proficient in AI tools. Together with Germany, both are strong in the application of AI in advanced manufacturing and robotics.

Outside of those countries, several small, agile, and high-tech nations are beginning to make a mark in the global AI ecosystem. They know they cannot compete with the US and China on scale, so they are competing by carving out specialized niches.

Finland has begun implementing its AI 4.0 Program, which supports its 2035 vision of becoming a global leader in sustainable AI powered by an AI-skilled workforce. A primary focus is on helping Finnish industrial SMEs adopt AI and digital tools to become globally competitive and digitally advanced.

In the ASEAN region, Singapore is aiming to become a hub for AI in urban innovation, governance, and cross-border collaboration. Its National AI Strategy 2.0 emphasizes AI in healthcare, education, and smart cities, and calls for strong regulatory frameworks.

In the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates is focusing on scale, aiming to become a global magnet for AI startups and a regulatory haven that offers world-class testbeds for urban and economic AI deployments. To achieve these, it is aggressively driving AI adoption, economic diversification, developing AI campus clusters, and extending global business incentives.

Estonia, for its part, is a global trailblazer in government digitalization, applying AI to automate and enhance e-governance, and is aiming to export its public sector expertise internationally. With KrattAI, their national AI strategy, their niche is AI for the citizen-state relationship.

Unlike the others, Switzerland has a less established industrial foundation, so it is looking to develop a framework to support its existing strengths. It plans to leverage its reputation for neutrality, privacy, and quality to become a global center for cross-border research and governance, making it an attractive base for international organizations and corporate R&D centers.

What should the Philippines’ aspirational niche be? It is uniquely positioned to become the global hub for AI-augmented services. Instead of focusing on deep-tech R&D or state-run e-governance, the Philippines’ position leverages its massive, English-proficient, and service-oriented talent pool. This strategy pivots the nation’s single most significant economic strength — the 1.8+ million-strong IT-BPM workforce — from being threatened by AI to being the enablers of AI.

The Philippines can achieve this by moving up the value chain from being the world’s call center to being the world’s AI-powered customer service experience manager. It should also leverage its world-class, but often-overlooked, talent pool in animation, game development, and design to become a powerhouse for AI-assisted creative services, from generating game assets and virtual worlds to post-production and animation.

A key strategy is a national talent transformation program —a massive, nationwide upskilling and reskilling campaign. It must differentiate itself from other low-cost destinations by making ethics a core part of its talent development program and building a “high-trust” AI workforce brand. Finally, it should develop a national “Living Lab” for AI Solutions to solve its major domestic challenges, which can then be exported as products.

The Philippines cannot afford to let the AI opportunity bus pass by. It has to be on the bus to ensure its workforce remains relevant in an AI-enabled world.